[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 147 (Wednesday, September 28, 2016)]
[House]
[Page H6007]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             HYDE AMENDMENT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Oregon (Ms. Bonamici) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call attention to the Hyde 
amendment, which, for too long, has been denying women their 
constitutional right to access safe and legal abortion.
  Mr. Speaker, restrictions on abortion do not make it go away. They 
make it less safe. For the last 40 years, the Hyde amendment has 
created an often insurmountable barrier for women across the country 
struggling to access affordable health care because it prohibits 
Medicaid coverage for abortion.
  It disproportionately affects low-income women: young women, 
immigrant women, women of color, women in rural communities. In fact, 
more than half the women who have their rights restricted by the Hyde 
amendment are women of color.
  It is long past time to do away with this harmful provision, which 
has been expanded over the years to deny coverage to Federal employees 
and their dependents, our military servicemembers, Native Americans, 
and even Peace Corps volunteers.

                              {time}  1015

  Restricting Medicaid coverage of abortion means that about one in 
four low-income women carry to term an unwanted pregnancy. That is not 
a decision the government should make for women. There are many things 
that Congress should be doing, but one thing we should not be doing is 
interfering with a woman's constitutional right.
  So what should we be doing? We should be supporting policies that 
prevent unwanted pregnancies, like funding Planned Parenthood; and we 
should also pass the EACH Woman Act to lift the coverage ban that 
stands in the way of too many women who have the right to make their 
own decisions about what is best for them and their families.
  Two generations of women have been affected by the Hyde amendment 
over the last four decades. Let's end this policy and let each woman be 
able to do what is best for herself and her family.

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